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Peculiarities of the Disciples 



A SERIES OF FIVE SERMONS 



BY 

B. B. TYLER 




CINCINNATI 

STANDARD PUBLISHING COMPANY 

1890 



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Copyright, 1890, by 
Standard Publishing Company, 



PECULIARITIES OF THE DISCIPLES. 



THE AIM OF THE DISCIPLES. 

And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold : them also I 
must bring, and they shall hear my voice ; and there shall be one fold, 
and one shepherd (John x. 16). 

I propose, in five brief sermons, to present some of 
the peculiarities of the people known in current speech 
and literature as Disciples of Christ. i 

I am led to the preparation and delivery of these 
discourses by the frequent inquiries made concerning 
the peculiarities of these people. 

A word as to my fitness for this task : All my life 
I have been most intimately associated with the 
Disciples. I am, indeed, a disciple of the Disciples. 
My parents were Disciples. My father was a preacher 
among the Disciples before I was born. From almost 
the very beginning he was with them, actively engaged 
in the ministry up to the time of his sudden death, less 
than one year ago. I was educated in one of the best 
known schools of the Disciples. I have had almost 
twenty-eight years' experience in the ministry, and 
have associated freely with the people of whose 
peculiarities I propose to speak. I do not think, 



2 PECULIARITIES OF THE DISCIPLES. 

therefore, that I am guilty of presumption when I say 
that if I understand anything, I understand the posi- 
tion of the Disciples. Please pardon these personal 
remarks. 

My purpose is to make as candid and as clear a 
statement as possible in the limited space at my com- 
mand. I ask your unprejudiced attention to the things 
that I purpose to present. At this time I will speak of 

THE PECULIAR AIM OF THE DISCIPLES. 

The question to be definitely answered during the 
next thirty minutes is this : What is the prime purpose 
of the Disciples of Christ ? What is the great aim of 
this movement ? 

To make the answer transparently clear, I will in 
the first place tell you what the aim of the Disciples 
is not : 

1. It is not their purpose to build up a denomina- 
tion. They do not aim to add one more church to the 
already too long list of Christian churches. That they 
stand out in current thought and speech as a distinct 
and independent religious body, is not of their choice 
nor with their consent. 

2. It is not the purpose of the Disciples to be out 
of harmony with other Christians. In fact, they very 
sincerely desire to be in accord with all who believe in 
the Lord Jesus Christ. Their mission is a mission of 
peace, not of war. Their aim is union, not divi- 
sion. 

3. They do not propose a new theology. In the 
main they are in accord with the theology usually 
accounted orthodox. Probably it would be about as 



THE AIM OF THE DISCIPLES. 3 

near the truth as it is possible to present the thought 
in a single sentence, to characterize the theological 
views of the Disciples as progressively orthodox. 
Certain it is that in the inception of this movement 
there was no widespread dissatisfaction with the con- 
ception of the gospel presented and entertained by 
those accounted orthodox. At certain points there 
are, of course, divergent views entertained, as there 
are different conceptions of truth entertained by 
thinkers within the undoubted pale of orthodoxy. 
What I mean to say at this point is that as to God, and 
Christ, and the Holy Spirit, sin, atonement, redemp- 
tion, resurrection, the way of salvation, the Holy 
Scriptures, the perpetuity of baptism and the Lord's 
Supper, with the importance of godly living day by 
day, the Disciples are quite as evangelical as any 
Christian people in America. 

The name Disciples of Christ represents, stands 

for, A MOVEMENT WITHIN THE CHURCH OF CHRIST IN 

favor of Christian union. They have a distinct 
mission, a singular aim, a peculiar purpose. They 
seek to bring about a unity and union among those 
who profess and call themselves Christians, of such a 
character as seems to them to be necessary in order to 
impress the world with the truth that Jesus of Nazareth 
is the Son of God and the Saviour of men. Jesus 
prayed that all believers might be one as he and the 
Father were one, that the world might believe that the 
Father had sent him. This was our Lord's expressed 
reason for desiring the unity and union of his dis- 
ciples. He seemed to think that only by such an 
intimate union as that which existed between himself 
and his Father would the world be led to believe in 



4 PECULIARITIES OF THE DISCIPLES. 

him as the special Messenger from God, as the Son of 
the Highest, and the Saviour of the lost. 

The leaders among the Disciples lamented the 
divisions by which the Church of Christ is marred. 
They thought that these divisions hindered the conver- 
sion of the world. These schisms appeared to them 
to be exceedingly offensive to the Head of the Body. 
Jesus loved the church and gave himself for it. Its 
strifes, contentions and divisions are contrary to his 
mind. It was found that in the New Testament 
divisions are mentioned as evidences of carnality. 
Schisms are spoken of as belonging to the works of 
the flesh. Sectarianism is not of the Spirit. It ought, 
therefore, to be abandoned as any other sin, and with 
as much speed as possible. Out of this feeling in the 
hearts of pious and scholarly men in the ministry of 
the Presbyterian Church came the movement in behalf 
of unity and union known as the Disciples of 
Christ. 

Even denominationalism, which is not always the 
same as sectarianism, is not according to the mind of 
Christ, as his mind is made known in the New Testa- 
ment. Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. The 
mission of the church is the same. To his disciples the 
Master said : "As my Father hath sent me, even so 
send I you." The great work of the Church of Christ 
is the preaching of the gospel to every creature, and so 
the bringing of men back into fellowship with God, 
But this transcendently important mission of the 
church is hindered by divisions among Christians. As 
much time and strength and money are probably 
spent in combating each other, and in maintaining our 
respective peculiarities of theory and practice, as in 



THE AIM OF THE DISCIPLES. 5 

combating sin. We fight one another when we ought 
to fight the devil. 

It ought to be said that the sect spirit does not 
exist now as it existed sixty or seventy years ago, 
when this Christian union movement began. Denom- 
inationalism is not as rampant now as it was then. 
There is a spirit of unity now to which preceding 
generations were strangers. There is a co-operation 
now among Christians such as was entirely unknown 
even so late as twenty-five or thirty years ago. In the 
growth of this fraternal spirit the Disciples rejoice. 
It is in the line of their especial efforts. The unity for 
which Jesus prayed does not yet exist, but the manifest 
tendency is in the right direction. 

It ought also to be said that the denominationalism 
of Protestantism in the nineteenth century is unlike 
the sectarianism condemned in the New Testament in 
this, that the Protestant denominations represent so 
many efforts to return in faith and in life, in teaching and 
in practice, to the religion of Jesus as he gave it to 
mankind at the first ; whereas the sectarianism of the 
apostolic age, the sectarianism which began to mani- 
fest itself in the first century of the Christian era, was 
a departure from the faith and the life, the doctrine 
and the deeds of the religion of the Man of Nazareth. 
The tendency in the one case was away from Christ ; 
the tendency in the other is toward the Christ. This 
statement is not to be understood as an apology, much 
less is it to be taken as a defence, of the existing con- 
dition of the Church of Christ. 

The distinction is made in the interest of the truth, 
and to aid in a clear understanding of the work be- 
fore us. 



6 PECULIARITIES OF THE DISCIPLES. 

The Disciples propose, as a simple, rational, scrip- 
tural and practical way to union, a return to the 
Christian religion as it is exhibited on the pages of the 
New Testament in the three following particulars : I, 
The creed ; 2, The ordinances ; 3, The life. 

If men will believe exactly what the Christ requires, 
if they will observe the ordinances of his own appoint- 
ment, and as he appointed, and if they will live day 
by day as he requires, the problem will be solved, and 
the disciples of the Son of God will come into union 
as he and the Father are one. 

What did Jesus require men to believe in order to 
salvation ? With the New Testament open before you, 
answer this question : What faith did the Son of man 
require in order that a man might be a Christian ? Did 
he require faith in doctrines ? Did he command men 
to believe in the Thirty-nine Articles ? From the 
words of Jesus do you infer that a man must believe 
the Athanasian Creed on pain of eternal damnation ? 
Is it clear to your mind that in order to salvation a man 
must believe the so-called Apostles' Creed? Is this 
the teaching of the Prophet of Nazareth? Certainly 
not. What then ? Simply this : Jesus asked men to 
believe in him. He himself, not doctrines, not dog- 
mas, however true, but he himself, the Son of Mary, 
the Son of man, the Son of God, was the object of 
saving faith before the corruption of the Christian 
religion. So far as belief was concerned, this was 
sufficient to make a man a Christian then ; it is enough 
now. Let us be content with the simple belief required 
by the Lord Jesus. Let the test of orthodoxy be now 
as then, " What think ye of Christ ? Whose Son is 
he ? Dost thou believe on the Son of God ? " 



THE AIM OF THE DISCIPLES. 7 

Now the Disciples propose as a part of the basis ol 
union this faith in the Son of God. 

As to the nature of faith, it is such a confidence in 
this Person, such a love for him, such a devotion tg 
him, as leads to a public profession and solemn conse- 
cration of the life to his service. It is with the heart 
that man believeth unto righteousness, and with the 
mouth confession is made unto salvation. This is the 
teaching of Paul, an ambassador for Christ. The 
genuine Apostles' Creed then runs thus : I believe 
within my heart that Jesus of Nazareth is the 
Christ, the Son of the living God, and I accept him as 
my Saviour. The Church of Christ in apostolic times 
was united in this simple, evangelical faith. This will 
be the faith of the reunited church. Additions to this 
faith, as tests of fellowship, are schismatic and hurtful, 
and so are to be avoided. 

The ordinances of Christ's own appointment are 
two : baptism, and the Lord's Supper. 

In this effort to bring about a union such as 
belonged to and was characteristic of the Church of 
Christ in its purity, the Disciples insist on the observ- 
ance of these ordinances as they were observed in the 
beginning. The argument is practically unanimous 
that the baptism of the one Church of Christ in the 
apostolic age was an immersion in water of believers, 
in the name of the Lord Jesus, and into the name of 
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. 
Such a baptism is recognized as valid by all denomina- 
tions. Even those who do not immerse receive into 
their fellowship men and women who have been 
immersed on a confession of the Lord Jesus. Affusion 
is in doubt. Sprinkling as a form of baptism is and 



8 PECU'LIARITIES OF THE DISCIPLES. 

ever has been a subject of controversy. Pouring is in 
doubt. Immersion is accepted everywhere and by all 
Christian people, and always has been, as valid baptism. 
Let this, then, be the practice of the reunited Church 
of Christ. As it was in the beginning, so let it be 
now. This return to the ancient order is in the interest 
of peace. The conscience of no one is injured by this 
practice. Whatever your opinion may be as to the 
validity of affusion, you accept the immersion of 
believers as Christian baptism. Such a person is 
received readily into the fellowship of Methodist, 
Congregationalist, Presbyterian, Episcopalian and 
Lutheran churches. 

. The baptism of believers certainly was the practice 
of the apostles of Christ, guided by the Holy Spirit. 
The Christ himself said, "He that believeth and is 
baptized shall be saved." There is not an intimation 
in any part of the New Testament that unbelievers 
were baptized. Why should unbelievers be baptized 
now? Why should the church now be divided over 
this question when there is agreement in understanding 
that the Christ requires, in the New Testament teach- 
ing, the baptism of believers? 

The Lord's Supper in the beginning of the Christian 
religion was a feast of love in the weekly assemblies of 
Christians for such as having been baptised on an open 
profession of faith in the Son of God, were striving to 
lead quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and 
honesty. That such characters partook of the Lord's 
Supper then there is no question. Let this ordinance, 
then, be restored to its original place and purpose in 
the Church of God. 

Baptism and the Lord's Supper are the two 



THE AIM OF THE DISCIPLES. g 

ordinances which were left by the Lord Jesus to his 
church and people. The contention of the Disciples 
is that, so far as religious ordinances are concerned, 
Christians ought not to attempt to improve on the 
wisdom of Jesus, but to be satisfied to keep only such 
ordinances as he enjoined, and in the manner appointed. 

As to the lives of Christians, Jesus himself is the 
standard. As our lives approach the life of Christ, we 
are Christians ; as our lives are unlike that of the 
Christ, we are not Christians. 

Abraham is not the standard of Christian living. 
Moses was imperfect. He can not be followed in 
everything. David was sinful. Solomon was full of 
faults. Paul needed forgiveness. He was saved by the 
mercy of God. Peter fell from grace. John, the 
beloved, was only a man. Job was human. It is 
human to err. Samson would not be received into any 
Christian church. The character of Noah bears a blot. 
Joseph, in Egypt, bore himself in a singular manner 
toward his aged and grief-stricken father in Canaan. 
Jacob can not be successfully defended at every point. 
The mild-mannered Isaac knew by experience the 
nature of sin. Daniel needed the grace of God. 
Jeremiah was not a patron saint. Only the Son of 
Mary was free from personal sin. He was tempted in 
all points, but he did no sin, neither was guile found 
in his mouth. He alone of all the sons of men was 
holy, harmless, undefiled, and, in himself, separate 
from sinners. Let this mind be in you which was also 
in Christ Jesus. Likeness to the Son of God is the 
one thing in a living experience to be desired. The 
Christ is our example. What he did as a man Chris- 
tians ought to do. What he did not as a man, because it 



10 PECULIARITIES OF THE DISCIPLES. 

was wrong, his disciples ought not to do. From this 
you can see that the style of Christian living needs to 
be exalted immeasurably. The plane on which we 
are living is altogether too low. Be ye holy, for the 
Christ into whom you have been baptized is 
holy. 

It is assumed in this plea for a restoration of primi- 
tive Christianity that the religion of Jesus, as outlined on 
the pages of the New Testament, its doctrine, its rites, 
its life, is perfect. Christianity is not the result of 
human experiments. Jesus did not learn to preach. 
He did not need to amend his discourses. He did not, 
as a teacher, experiment. His instruction was not 
tentative. The wisdom which belonged to him was 
from above. In him dwelt the fullness of the God- 
head. His life was free from sin ; his doctrine was 
free from error. He made the disciples, whom he 
constituted apostles, infallible. This he did by filling 
them with the Holy Spirit. They were guided by the 
Spirit into all truth. They were preserved, in preach- 
ing and teaching the things pertaining to the kingdom 
of God, from falling into error. Their words are prov- 
identially preserved and placed in our hands, so that 
we know their teachings, their religious customs, and 
their manner of life. 

By a return to the Christianity of the Christ we 
return to the perfect religion. Just in the proportion 
in which, in faith and in life, we approach the teaching 
of the New Testament, we are right. This is the 
doctrine of Protestantism. The present movement, 
the movement in which the Disciples are engaged, is a 
legitimate, logical, necessary outgrowth of the funda- 
mental principles of Protestantism. 



THE AIM OF THE DISCIPLES. II 

As to the nature of the needed Christian union, the 
prayer of our divine Lord, in the seventeenth chapter 
of John, contains more than a hint. The union for 
which our blessed Lord prayed was such a union as 
existed between the Father and the Son. His petition 
was uttered for all who would believe on him through 
the words of the apostles, whom he had chosen. He 
also prayed that his personal friends, the men who 
were his companions, might be one, as he and his 
Father were one. We are told that the multitude of 
them that believed in Jerusalem were of one heart and 
of one soul. Was this not Christian union ? The 
Apostle Paul exhorted the members of the Church of 
God in Corinth to be "perfectly joined together in the 
same mind and in the same judgment." He exhorted 
the saints in Ephesus "to keep the unity of the Spirit 
in the bond of peace. " The saints in Rome were told 
to "mark them which cause divisions and offenses 
contrary to the doctrine" which they had "learned; 
and avoid them." It thus appears that the unity of 
the New Testament church was spiritual. The indi- 
vidual members were united to him by a living faith, 
and the bond of union between the believers in the 
Christ was love. They loved as brethren. They 
loved so simply, so sincerely and so intensely that 
none of them said that aught of the things that he 
possessed was his own, but they had all things in com- 
mon. They were members of one body, the Church 
of Christ; they were animated by one spirit, the Holy 
Spirit; they were sustained by one hope, the good 
hope of eternal life ; they belonged to one Lord, even 
the Son of God; they cherished one faith, belief in 
Jesus ; they had consecrated themselves to holy living 



12 PECULIARITIES OF THE DISCIPLES. 

in one baptism, and they acknowledged "one God 
and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, 
and in you all." This is the kind of union for which 
the Disciples are working. The movement is therefore 
intensely spiritual in its aim. They plead not for an 
amalgamation of denominations. They have no de- 
sire to see a vast ecclesiasticism. They pray that all 
who profess to be the disciples of the Lord Jesus may 
be so vitally connected w r ith him that they will be en- 
tirely contented with the pure, spiritual, practical 
religion of which he is the Author, believing the creed, 
observing the ordinances, and nurturing the life which 
will certainly be acceptable to him. Coming into this 
happy spiritual estate they can, and will, easily co- 
operate in turning men to the Lord. 

But is Christian union practicable ? The Disciples 
think it is. It was certainly practicable once. The 
apostolic church was a unit. Why can not this union 
be restored ? With the New Testament as our teacher, 
there is only one answer as to the practicability of 
union, and that is an emphatic affirmative. 

But it is objected that we can not all see alike. 
True. But the unity of believers enjoined in the New 
Testament is not an agreement in opinions. It is a 
unity of faith and life. The faith is faith in the Son of 
God ; and the life is a life of implicit and childlike 
obedience to his commandments. 

Union and uniformity are not the same. There can 
be union without uniformity. In order to such a union 
as that for which the Disciples strive it is not necessary 
that we all sing the praises of God out of one book ; 
or that we have in all of our places of public worship the 
same order of service on the Lord's day ; or that our 



THE AIM OF THE DISCIPLES. 1 3 

congregations shall all be organized after the same pat- 
tern. In those things not essential to the integrity of the 
faith there must be the largest liberty. Where God 
has not bound us we must be left free. The adage so 
often repeated, sometimes attributed to Augustine, the 
great African bishop and theologian, sometimes to 
Chalmers, the eminent Scotch divine and preacher, 
and sometimes to the saintly Richard Baxter, that in 
essentials there should be unity, in non-essentials there 
should be liberty, and in all things there should be 
charity, fairly sets forth in general terms the plan of 
Christian union proposed by the Disciples, and this not 
because Augustine, or Chalmers, or Baxter uttered the 
famous aphorism, but because this seems to be the 
spirit of Christ, whose we are and whom we 
serve. 

I have thus attempted to answer the following ques- 
tions : 

I. What is the grand aim, what is the prime pur- 
pose, what is the distinct mission of the people known 
as the Disciples of Christ ? The answer is : To unite 
in a loving brotherhood Christians of every name, and 
creed, and peculiar usage. 

II. In what way do the Disciples propose to bring 
about this union of the children of God ? The answer 
is : By persuading them to be satisfied with the 
religion of Jesus, as he gave it to mankind, and as it 
is described on the pages of the New Testament. 

III. To what extent do the Disciples propose a res- 
toration of primitive Christianity — the Christianity of 
the apostolic age ? The answer is : Its doctrine, its 
ordinances, its fruits ; or, in other words, its creed, its 
ritual, and its life. 



14 PECULIARITIES OF THE DISCIPLES. 

IV. What is the nature of the union for which the 
Disciples labor ? The answer is : It is spiritual. It 
consists of a simple, childlike faith in the Son of God, 
and an implicit, unquestioning obedience to his every 
requirement. Devotion to the Son of God in heart 
and in life must be such as to cause the disciples to 
lose sight of, and interest in, every thing and every 
person but him, the peerless One, and his commands. 

V. Is such a union practicable ? The answer is : 
Yes. Such a union existed under the ministry of the 
inspired apostles, and can exist again if Christians will 
only be satisfied with what God says in these last days 
by his Son. Is such a union practicable ? Yes. For 
Jehovah has decreed that the Christ shall have the 
heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of 
the earth for his possession. But this result can only 
be secured by a hearty spiritual union with the Christ, 
and so with each other of those who recognize Christ's 
ownership of them. 



THE PECULIAR CREED OF THE DISCIPLES. 

Dost thou believe on the Son of God? (John ix. 35). 

What is the peculiar creed of the Disciples r This 
is the question to be answered this evening. 

" I thought that the Disciples have no creed. This 
I understood to be one of their peculiarities." 

In this opinion, my friend, you are in error. The 
Disciples have a creed. And they think that they 
have the best creed in the world. And a most 
singular thing is that all other Christians entertain the 
same opinion ! They have not one word to say against 
the creed of the Disciples. Hear me. 

Every church must have a creed. The creed is the 
foundation of the church. A church without a creed 
would be a building without a foundation. There is no 
part of the building more important than the founda- 
tion. Much attention is given to the foundation. A 
bad foundation affects the entire structure. There is 
nothing in connection with a church more important 
than its creed. If the creed is bad the church is not 
good. The bad creed vitiates the church. Give good 
attention to the foundation. See that it is right. 

There is, no doubt, some apparent reason for the 
opinion that the Disciples have no creed, and that they 
are, in fact, opposed to all creeds. From the first they 
have strenuously opposed the use of human statements 
of faith as tests of fellowship. Beginning with a 
desire and determination to promote Christian union, 
they soon found, as they thought, that human state- 



1 6 PECULIARITIES OF THE DISCIPLES. 

ments of belief, usually called creeds, were inimical to 
the union of Christians. If creeds, in the sense ex- 
plained, hindered the unity of believers, then creeds 
must be thrown overboard. And, for themselves, 
they consistently abandoned the use of all human 
statements of faith as tests of fellowship. Such 
creeds as I now speak of were opposed, not because 
their doctrines were false, but because, whether the 
doctrines in them were true or false, they were sup- 
posed to be schismatical in their tendency. Alex. 
Campbell may be taken as a representative Disciple. 
Upon the subject of the ground of opposition to 
human creeds he used the following language : 

Unitarians, for example, have warred against human creeds, because 
those creeds taught Trinitarianism. Arminians, too,have been hostile to 
creeds, because those creeds supported Calvinism. It has, indeed, been 
alleged that all schismatics, good and bad, since the days of John 
Wickliffe, and long before, have opposed creeds of human invention 
because those creeds opposed them. But so far as this controversy 
resembles them in its opposition to creeds, it is to be distinguished 
from them in this all-essential attitude, viz : that our opposition to creeds arose 
from a conviction that, whether the opinions in them were true or false, they 
were hostile to the union, peace, harmony, purity and joy of Christians, and 
adverse to the conversion of the world to Jesus Christ, 

Next to our personal salvation [continues Mr. Campbell] two objects 
constituted the summum bonum, the supreme good, worthy of the sacri- 
fice of all temporalities. The first was the union, peace, purity and 
harmonious co-operation of Christians, guided by an understanding 
enlightened by the Holy Scriptures ; the other, the conversion of sinners 
to God. Our predilections and antipathies on all religious questions arose 
from, and were controlled by, those all-absorbing interests. From these 
commenced our campaign against creeds. We had not at first, and we 
have not now, a favorite opinion or speculation which we would offer as 
a substitute for any human creed or constitution in Christendom. 

This was the sentiment and language of Alex. 
Campbell in the year 1835. 



THE PECULIAR CREED OF THE DISCIPLES. 1 7 

I quote him because he was the most prominent 
preacher and writer in the earlier stages of this move- 
ment for a reunion of Christendom by a return to the 
religion of Jesus in all things. In the year 1832 he 
answered this question: "What is an authoritative 
creed ?" His answer was: " An abstract of human 
opinions' concerning the supposed cardinal articles of 
Christian faith, which summary is made a bond of 
union, or term of communion. " 

The tendency of human authoritative creeds is to 
separate and keep asunder those who ought to be 
perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the 
same judgment. Certainly they have not been bonds 
of union, although intended to be such. Lutherans, 
Episcopalians, Presbyterians and Methodists, who have 
made much of their creeds, are divided and sub- 
divided. 

If the general tendency of creeds of human device 
is schismatic, then they are in the way of the conver- 
sion of the world to the Lord Jesus. But the desire 
of the good men who inaugurated this Christian union 
movement for the conversion of the world to the Son 
of God was most intense. For this grand cause they 
were inspired with an apostolic zeal and fervor. You 
can easily see how such men would be led to oppose 
creeds of human construction as tests of communion 
and co-operation. You can see, too, how earnest this 
opposition would be. This zeal in attacking human 
creeds and confessions of faith, no doubt, has led some 
to think that the opposition to creeds was universal ; 
that the churches ef Christ engaged in this Christian 
union movement were, and are, opposed to creeds 
simply because they are creeds — and that they are 



1 8 PECULIARITIES OF THE DISCIPLES. 

trying to live, and serve God ? without a creed. You 
see, now, how mistaken this notion is. Creeds of 
human composition, as tests of fellowship, were opposed 
on the ground that they were in the way of union, and 
so a hindrance to the conversion of the world. 

The Disciples are not opposed to saying in print, 
and in the most formal and emphatic manner, what 
they believe the Scriptures to teach, for the information 
of the people. I quote Alex. Campbell again. In 
1839 he said : 

" We are always willing to give a declaration of our faith and knowl- 
edge of the Christian system, but we firmly protest against propounding 
our own views or those of any other fallible mortal, as a condition or 
foundation of church union and co-operation. While, then, we would, 
if we could, either with the tongue or the pen, proclaim all that we be- 
lieve, and all that we know, to the ends of the earth, we take the Bible, 
the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible, as the foundation of all 
Christian union and communion. Those who do not like this will please 
show me a more excellent way." 

Thus far, again, Mr. Campbell. 

And it is a fact that, in 1846, Alex. Campbell pub- 
lished eight articles of faith, eight brief and distinct 
propositions, setting forth in part his theological views. 
But this statement was not to be made, and has never 
been used as a test of fellowship. 

It is entirely proper for this church to pass a series 
of resolutions saying that we believe so and so ; that 
we understand this and that doctrine to be contained 
in the sacred writings ; but these resolutions or articles 
of faith are not under any condition to be used as tests 
of fellowship. To use them in this way would be to 
abuse them. If any one desires to know what this 
church, the Church of Christ meeting in this particu- 
lar place, believes to be the doctrine of God's word on 



THE PECULIAR CREED OF THE DISCIPLES. 1 9 

various questions, the church has a right, by sermon, by 
lecture, by address, by tract, by pamphlet, by news- 
paper, by book, or by formal resolution, to furnish the 
desired information. But this information, in whatever 
way set forth, is not to be placed before a candidate 
for membership, with a request that he subscribe to it 
as the teaching of God's Word, or remain out of the 
fellowship of this church. The conditions of admission 
into the churches of Christ are clearly presented in the 
New Testament, and no man, nor company of men, 
has a right to change them. My understanding of the 
Scriptures may be correct, the general understanding 
of the teaching of the living oracles in this church may 
be correct, but the admission of a penitent believer 
into the body of the faithful, in a given place, is not to 
be conditioned on a certain degree of understanding 
of biblical topics, or abstruse and abstract theological 
opinions. 

' ' What, then, is your peculiar creed ? ' ' do you ask ? 
Mr. Campbell has been quoted as saying that " we take 
the Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible, 
as the foundation of all Christian union and com- 
munion. " 

If the question is as to the book by which a church 
is to be, or ought to be, guided, this language can 
easily be defended. The Bible is the book. This 
was the doctrine of the Reformers of the sixteenth 
century. This is the true Protestant position. In the 
controversy with Rome the issue was: An infallible 
church, or an infallible book. Romanists said : An 
infallible church. Protestants said : An infallible book. 
Chillingworth is the author of the famous aphorism : 
"The Bible, I say, the Bible only, is the religion of 



20 PECULIARITIES OF THE DISCIPLES. 

Protestants. " He was, when he said that, comparing 
the Bible teaching with the doctrine of Bellarmine or 
Baronius — with the doctrine of the Sarbonne, or of the 
Jesuits, or Dominicans. He said that Rome furnished 
no safe guide, since popes in faith and in doctrine were 
arrayed against popes, councils were against councils, 
fathers against fathers, and the church of one age 
against the church of another age. As the way out ot 
this confusion the Protestants said that the Bible, and 
the Bible alone, contained their religion. 

In a controversy between a Romanist and a Protest- 
ant, I have seen the following points in favor of the 
Protestant rule of faith and life : 

I. It is inspired. 2. It is authoritative. 3. It is 
intelligible. 4. It is moral. 5. It is perpetual. 6. 
It is catholic. 7. It is perfect. 

Now, said the Protestant champion, we will prove 
this : 

1. It is inspired, for "holy men of God," says 
Peter, "spoke as they were moved by the Holy 
Spirit." 2. It is authoritative: "The word that I 
speak to you shall judge you in the last day," says the 
Lord from heaven. 3. It is intelligible: To the 
Ephesian converts, Paul saith : * ' When you read you 
may understand my knowledge in the mystery of 
Christ." 4. It is moral : " The word of the Lord is 
pure, rejoicing the heart." 5. It is perpetual: 
1 ' The word of the Lord endureth forever ; and this is 
the word which has been announced to you as glad 
tidings." 6. It is catholic: "He that is of God, 
heareth God's word ; " "Preach the word ; " " Preach 
the gospel to every creature." 7. It is perfect: 
" From a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures, 



THE PECULIAR CREED OF THE DISCIPLES. 21 

which are able to make thee wise unto salvation." 
" All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is 
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for in- 
struction in righteousness; that the man of God may- 
be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." 

When the Bible is said to be the creed, these facts 
— the facts which originated the statement that the 
Bible, and the Bible only, is the religion of Protestants 
— should be kept in mind. 

So, when it is said by a Disciple, the Bible is our 
creed, the statement is made with the various books of 
human and uninspired composition, to aid in the pre- 
servation of a pure faith, and the government of the 
church, in mind. 

The Bible is our creed ; not the Confession of 
Faith of the Westminster Assembly of Divines. 

The Bible is our creed ; not the Book of Discipline 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

The Bible is our creed ; not the Philadelphia Con- 
fession of Faith. 

The Bible is our creed ; not the Augsburg Confes- 
fession of Faith. 

This is the contrast and connection in which it is 
proper to say that the Bible is our creed. 

As a comparative statement, it is true that the 
Bible is the creed of the Disciples ; as an absolute 
statement, it is not quite correct. 

Some one may say : I understand that you Dis- 
ciples propose a restoration of primitive Christianity. 
We do. You contend, among other things, for the 
creed of the apostolic church ? We do. You say 
that the Bible is your creed ? Correct. What do you 
understand to be the Bible? The sixty-six books 



22 PECULIARITIES OF THE DISCIPLES. 

believed by Protestants to have been given by inspira- 
tion of God. Do you think that this book was the creed 
of the church in Jerusalem — the mother church? 
Twenty-seven of the books of the Bible had no exist- 
ence at the time of the organization of that church. 
The New Testament was not written then. So, if you 
take the Bible, and the Bible alone, as your creed, your 
churches have not the creed of the churches of Christ 
in apostolic times. The churches in Jerusalem, An- 
tioch, Corinth, Ephesus, Thessalonica, Philippi, Colosse 
and Rome had not the Bible as we have it. The New 
Testament, the most important part of the Bible, was 
not written at the time of the organization of these 
churches. 

So that it is not entirely correct to say that the 
Bible is our creed. It would be more nearly the truth 
to say : The Bible contains our creed. What was 
the creed of the churches of Christ in the first cen- 
tury? 

Look into the New Testament to find the answer. 
When Simon Peter said in Csesarea Philippi : " Thou 
are the Christ, the Son of the living God/' our Lord 
replied : " Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona ; for flesh 
and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my 
Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, 
that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my 
church ; and the gates of hell shall not prevail 
against it." 

This, then, is the statement of our Lord Jesus 
Christ as to the creed of his church. 

A church that has this divinely approved statement 
concerning our Lord Jesus Christ for its creed can not, 
on this question, be astray. Do you think so ? 



THE PECULIAR CREED OF THE DISCIPLES. 23 

Now, if you are inclined to go through the New 
Testament, in a study of this question, you will find 
that everywhere this was the faith, or the creed, of the 
church in those days of beginning. Paul founded the 
church of- God in Corinth. In his first epistle he com- 
pares the church to a building. This figure has 
already been used in this discourse. What did the 
apostle say as to the foundation ? He said, " I have 
laid the foundation.'' He said also, " Other founda- 
tion can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus 
Christ." He also established the church in Ephesus. 
Of the foundation of that church, he said: " Built 
upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, 
Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone/' 
* Jehovah said by the prophet, "I lay in Sion a chief 
corner-stone, elect, precious." Simon Peter said that 
" the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is 
made the head of the corner." 

When the treasurer of Queen Candace heard the 
gospel from Evangelist Philip, he said : "What doth 
hinder me to be baptized ? " The evangelist said : "If 
thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest." And 
he answered and said, " I believe that Jesus Christ is 
the Son of God." Martha's creed was this : " I be- 
lieve that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which 
should come into the world." Thomas, whose sur- 
name was Didymus, exclaimed when he saw that the 
Son of man was alive from the dead : ' ' My Lord ! 
and my God ! " The creed of Nathanael ran in this 
way: " Thou art the Son of God ; thou art the King 
of Israel." All these are in entire accord with the 
confession of Simon Peter, approved by the Master, 
and made in Caesarea Philippi. Of this confession of 



24 PECULIARITIES OF THE DISCIPLES. 

faith in the Son of God, Dr. Schaff says in his ' ' Creeds 
of Christendom M : " This is the fundamental Christian 
confession and the rock on which the church is 
built." 

This is the peculiar creed of the Disciples. They 
are peculiar in this : they are satisfied with it. They 
do not add to it. They do not take from it. They do 
not attempt to modify it. To every person applying 
for baptism and church membership the question is : 
Dost thou believe on the Son of God ? What think 
ye of Christ ? Whose Son is he? What will you do 
with Jesus who is called the Christ? Do you be- 
lieve in your heart that Jesus of Nazareth is the 
Christ, the Son of the living God ? Do you take him 
to be your Saviour ? Do you agree to follow him ? 
Do you accept him as your Prophet, Priest and King ? 
Will you be taught by him ? Do you accept his 
mediation ? Will you be obedient to him ? 

Christ is exalted. Christ is placed in the front. 
In all things the Lord Jesus is given the pre-eminence. 
Belief in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living 
God, and the only Saviour of men, is the creed of 
Christianity. This great, broad, grand, unsectarian, 
undenominational, catholic Christian union movement 
could do nothing else but accept this creed. 

But you reply, this is not peculiar to the Disciples. 
All Christians believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the 
Christ, the Son of the living God. 

True. But is it customary to require a simple and 
direct confession of faith in Jesus, and in him alone, 
before baptism and church membership ? Of course, 
the statement that Jesus is the Son of God is held as 
an article of faith by Christians of all denominations, 



THE PECULIAR CREED OF THE DISCIPLES. 2$ 

but is it regarded by any body of believers, except the 
Disciples, as the article of faith ? If so, I confess my 
ignorance of the fact. 

At this point I quote the language of the late 
lamented Isaac Errett, in a tract entitled Our Position, 
and widely circulated by the Disciples : 

With us, the divinity and Christhood of Jesus is more than a mere 
item of doctrine— it is the central truth of the Christian system, and in 
an important sense the creed of Christianity. It is the one fundamental 
truth which we are jealously careful to guard against all compromise. To 
persuade men to trust and love and obey a divine Saviour, is the one great 
end for which we labor in preaching the gospel ; assured that if men are 
right about Christ, Christ will bring them right about everything else. 
We, therefore, preach Jesus Christ and him crucified. We demand no 
other faith, in order to baptism and church membership, than the faith of 
the heart in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God ; nor have we 
any term or bond ©f fellowship but faith in this divine Redeemer, and 
obedience to him. All who trust in the Son of God and obey him, are 
our brethren, however wrong they may be about anything else; 
and those who do not trust in this divine Saviour for salvation and obey 
his commandments, are not our brethren, however intelligent and excel- 
lent they may be in all beside. Faith in the unequivocal testimonies con- 
cerning Jesus — his incarnation, life, teachings, sufferings, death for sin, 
resurrection, exaltation, and divine sovereignty and priesthood, and 
obedience to the plain commands he has given us, are with us, therefore, 
the basis and bond of Christian fellowship. In judgments merely infer- 
ential, we reach conclusions as nearly unanimous as we can ; and where 
we fail, exercise forbearance, in the confidence that God will lead us into 
final agreement. In matters of expediency, where we are left free to 
follow our own best judgment, we allow the majority to rule. In matters 
of opinion — that is, matters touching which the Bible is either silent or 
so obscure in its revelations as not to admit of definite conclusions — we 
allow the largest liberty, so long as none judges his brother, or insists on 
forcing his own opinions on others, or on making them an occasion 
of strife. 

Another distinguished teacher among the Disciples, 
Alexander Proctor, has said : 



26 PECULIARITIES OF THE DISCIPLES. 

Put Christ in your temple, and what ought not to be there will depart at 
his bidding. Is your congregation disturbed by the presence of birds or 
beasts that defile it ? Open the door to him and give him full possession, 
for he alone has the power to drive them out. Is the temple of your 
heart infested with the beasts of selfishness, which show their presence 
in the works of the flesh ? You can not expel them by your will alone. 
Put Christ in your temple. 

There are yet those who are vainly trying to dense the temple of its 
falsehood by a scourge of small cords of doctrine spun out of their own 
brain. There are those who are seeking to expel from the churches, 
organs, festival, etc., by the force of their own personal menaces ; and 
there are not wanting those who are seeking to cleanse their own lives by 
their low keeping in their own strength. Put Christ in your temples, and 
whatever ought not to be there he will drive out. 

This exaltation of the Christ is far reaching. This 
creed includes everything essential to the Christian 
life. 

There is not time here to enter into a study of the 
full meaning of: I believe in my heart that Jesus 
of Nazareth is the Christ, the Son of the living God. 
But one thing must be mentioned. 

If this statement is true of Jesus, then the Old and 
New Testaments must be received as containing a 
revelation of the divine will. The word of God is con- 
tained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, 
The ultimate appeal must be to these books given by 
inspiration of God. When any one says, "I believe 
in Jesus as the Son of God," he says in effect, " I be- 
lieve the Bible." The Christ in whom we believe 
placed his hand reverently on the Old Testament and 
said : " This is from God." He placed the other hand 
on the New Testament, and said: "This is from 
God." He united the two as containing God's truth 
set before man in human speech, and pronounced a 
curse on the man who would take from, or add to, or 



THE PECULIAR CREED OF THE DISCIPLES. 2J 

in any manner attempt to change this divine verbal 

setting forth of the things to be believed and done in 

order to obtain eternal life. If Jesus is true, the Bible 

is true. The Bible, Old Testament and New, is full of 

Jesus. So that this confession of faith in Jesus 

commits one to the Scriptures as the oracles of 

God. 

But what will you do with heretics ? Do with them 

just what the apostles, inspired by the Holy Spirit, did. 

There were heretics in those days. Jude complains 

that " ungodly men, turning the favor of God into las- 

civiousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our 

Lord Jesus Christ," had " crept in unawares. " Paul 

echoes the same sentiment in reference to ' ' false 

brethren, unawares brought in, who came in privily to 

spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that 

they might bring us into bondage.' ' There were 

those, says John, "who went out from us because they 

were not of us," and there was Demas, w r ho forsook 

Paul in the hours of danger, "having loved this 

present world." And what more shall I say of the 

heretics of the apostolic age of the church ? The 

time would fail me to tell of Simon the Socerer, of 

Alexander the Coppersmith, of Phygellus and Her- 

mogenes, of Hymeneus and Alexander, whom Paul 

delivered over to Satan that they might learn not to 

blaspheme, and of many others who proved insincere 

in their confession, or false to its obligations. 

But these holy men, the apostles of the Lord Jesus, 
guided by the Holy Spirit, had no other creed than 
this: "Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living 
God." 

That was enough for them ; it is enough for us. 



28 PECULIARITIES OF THE DISCIPLES. 

But this position is, so far as I know, peculiar to the 
Disciples ; hence the peculiar creed of the Disciples is 
this : I do believe in my heart that Jesus is the 
Christ, the Son of the living God, and the Saviour of 
men. 



THE PECULIAR USE WHICH THE DISCI- 
PLES MAKE OF BAPTISM. 

Baptism doth also now save us. — I. Pet. iii. 21. 

It is no part of my purpose to enter into a general 
discussion of the subject of baptism to-night. I de- 
sire only to place before you, in as clear and intelligible 
terms as I can command, the peculiar use which the 
Disciples make of Christian baptism. 

But to do this I must say something about the posi- 
tion which the ordinance occupies in the theology of 
some of our brethren. And, in the first place, I desire 
to say deliberately and with emphasis that we think our 

FRIENDS MAKE ENTIRELY TOO MUCH OF CHRISTIAN BAP- 
TISM. To you this may seem strange, but I speak 
soberly and according to the books. I make no attack 
on any person, or church ; I deal on this occasion, and 
in the present discussion, in facts. 

What, then, is the current Protestant position on 
the place, purpose, and value of baptism as set forth 
in the generally recognized symbols of faith ? 

I begin with the good old Confession of Faith. 
Five years, six months and twenty-two days were 
spent by the Westminster Assembly in framing the 
Confession of Faith. One thousand one hundred and 
sixty-three sessions in all were held. The Assembly 
meeting at Westminster, in King Henry the VII. 
chapel, was composed of one hundred and twenty 
reverend gentlemen, ten peers, and twenty com- 
moners of illustrious birth. This historic " As- 

29 



30 PECULIARITIES OF THE DISCIPLES. 

sembly " came together the 1st day of July, 1643. 
The work was not hastily done, nor was it the 
work of parvenus. This is the foundation and the 
very substance of the Confession of Faith of the Pres- 
byterian Church in the United States of America. 
The Confession of Faith, the Catechisms, and the 
Directory for the Worship of God, together with the 
plan of government and discipline, were ratified in 
the General Assembly in May, 1821, and amended 
in 1833. 

To learn the doctrine, polity, and usages of the 
Presbyterian Church, examine this Confession of Faith. 
It contains the authorized setting forth of Presbyte- 
rianism in the United States in this year of grace. 

What, then, is the doctrine of our Presbyterian 
brethren on the subject of baptism, as set forth in the 
Confession of Faith and the Catechisms? How much 
do they make of this ordinance ? 

I read from chapter xxviii., page 148, the fol- 
lowing : 

Baptism is a sacrament of the New Testament, ordained by Jesus 
Christ, not only for the solemn admission of the party baptized into the 
visible church, but also to be unto him a sign and seal of the covenant 
of grace, of his ingrafting into Christ, of regeneration, of remission of 
sins, and of his giving up unto God, through Jesus Christ, to walk in 
newness of life ; which sacrament is, by Christ's own appointmexit, to 
be continued in his church until the end of the world. 

Note: "Baptism is for the solemn admission of 
the party baptized into the visible church." 

I now read from chapter xxv., page 138, the fol- 
lowing : 

The visible church, which is also catholic or universal under the 
gospel, not confined to one nation as before under the law, consists of 



PECULIAR USE OF BAPTISM. 3 I 

all those throughout the world that profess the true religion, together 
with their children, and is the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, the 
house and family of God, out of which there is no ordinary possibility of 
salvation. 

Observe: "Out of the visible church there is no 
ordinary possibility of salvation." 

To make this stand out so that all may see, I put 
it before you thus : 

1. Baptism is for the solemn admission of the party 
baptized into the visible church. 

2. Out of the visible church there is no ordinary 
possibility of salvation. 

3. Therefore without baptism there is no ordinary 
possibility of salvation. Q. E. D. 

This is making a great deal of baptism. Is it mak- 
ing too much of it? There is no ordinary possibility 
of salvation out of the visible church, but the way into 
the visible church is by baptism. This is the doctrine 
of the Confession of Faith, so deliberately prepared, 
adopted, and amended. 

Baptism is called, in the Confession of Faith, "a 
seal of the covenant of grace." This is putting bap- 
tism where Paul puts the Holy Spirit. Read Eph. iv. 
30: "And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby 
ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." The 
Westminster Assembly of Divines first, and now the 
Presbyterian Church in the United States, says that bap- 
tism is a " seal of the covenant of grace." Paul says 
that the seal is the Holy Spirit. When baptism is put, 
as in this instance, in the place of the Holy Spirit, too 
much is made of the ordinance. 

On page 151 is language which approaches the 
true conception of this appointment of our Lord Jesus 



32 PECULIARITIES OF THE DISCIPLES. 

Christ. I read section v., of chapter xxxviii., as 
follows : 

Although it be a great sin to contemn or neglect this ordinance, yet 
grace and salvation are not so inseparably annexed unto it, as that no 
person can be regenerated or saved without it, or that all that are bap- 
tized, are undoubtedly regenerated. 

This language, in the light of the previously recited 
words, must be understood as at once explanatory and 
apologetic. The authors of this venerable document, 
and their descendants in the United States, seem to 
have felt that they had made almost too much of bap- 
tism, and so they hasten to say that they do not mean 
to affirm "that no person can be regenerated or saved 
without it." But the very next section says that "by 
the right use of this ordinance the grace promised is 
not only offered, but really exhibited and conferred by 
the Holy Ghost to such (whether of age or infants) as 
that grace belongeth unto, according to the counsel of 
God's own will, in his appointed time." What is this 
grace? We have just read that it is "ingrafting into 
Christ," " regeneration/ ' and "remission of sins/' 

At the foot of the page, page 153, to explain what 
is meant by the grace that belongeth unto baptism, the 
following texts of Scripture are quoted : 

Gal. iii. 27: " For as many of you as have been 
baptized into Christ have put on Christ. " 

Eph. v. 25-26 : "Christ loved the church, and gave 
himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it 
with the washing of water by the word." 

Acts ii. 38 : "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, 
and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus 
Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive 
the gift of the Holy Spirit" 



PECULIAR USE OF BAPTISM. 33 

Acts ii. 41: " Then they that gladly received the 
word were baptized, and the same day* there were 
added unto them about three thousand souls." 

These texts are quoted in the Confession of Faith 
to explain what is meant by the ' ' grace that belongeth 
unto baptism." And this language of Scripture, the 
Confession of Faith says, applies to infants as well as 
to those of age ; to unbelievers as well as to those who 
have faith in Christ. Infants, then, are baptized to in- 
graft them into Christ, for regeneration, for remission 
of sins, that they may receive the gift of the Holy 
Spirit, and that they may be cleansed. 

Do I misrepresent these dear brethren, or the doc- 
trine of the Confession? I think not. John Cal- 
vin said, speaking of infants, that "the grace of 
adoption is sealed in their flesh by baptism." The 
Confession of Faith of the Church of Scotland, pre- 
pared chiefly by the heroic John Knox, says that u we 
firmly believe that by baptism we are inserted into Jesus 
Christ, and are made partakers of his righteousness, 
by which all our sins are covered and remitted." 

I will not misrepresent anybody intentionally, and 
certainly not a people whom I so much admire, and in 
whose faith and life I find so much to commend as in 
my Presbyterian brethren. But I think they make too 
much of baptism in their symbols of faith, and I say 
so. That is all. 

The same thing is true of our Methodist friends. 
They also, in their standards, make too much of bap- 
tism. And why not ? John Wesley, the founder of 
Methodism, said in his commentary on the New Testa- 
ment that " baptism administered to real penitents is 
both a means and seal of pardon. Nor did God ordi- 



34 PECULIARITIES OF THE DISCIPLES. 

narily, in the primitive church, bestow this [pardon] 
on any unless through this means." This is pretty 
well put, but he went away beyond this. It is a fact 
well known that Mr. Wesley defended the baptism of 
infants on the ground that they were sinners, in dan- 
ger of eternal damnation, and that baptism was for the 
remission of sins. If any proposition in church his- 
tory can be successfully maintained, it is that the prac- 
tice of infant baptism rests on two assumptions : i. In- 
fants are sinners ; 2. Baptism saves. This again is 
making entirely too much of baptism. 

For the position of our Methodist brethren I refer 
you to the ritual of baptism in the Discipline of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, p. 134. This place treats 
of "the ministration of baptism to children." The 
minister is required to say that f< forasmuch as all 
men are conceived and born in sin, and that our Sa- 
viour Christ saith none can enter into the kingdom of 
God, except he be regenerate and born anew of water 
and of the Holy Ghost, I beseech you to call upon 
God the Father, through our Lord Jesus Christ, that 
of his bounteous mercy he will grant to this child that 
thing which by nature he can not have, that he may be 
baptized with water and the Holy Ghost, and received 
into Christ's holy church, and be made a lively mem- 
ber of the same." 

This is an address to those who bring the child to 
the font. Then the minister prays for the child. In 
this prayer he is required to ask God to "wash and 
sanctify the child," that he may be delivered from the 
"wrath" of God. He prays that the old Adam in 
the child may be buried, and that the new man may 
be raised up in him. He asks God that this child now 



PECULIAR USE OF BAPTISM. 35 

to be baptized may receive the fullness of divine grace. 
In the ritual for the ministration of baptism to such as 
are of riper years, the minister is required to say the 
same things, and more. He asks that the candidate 
may receive remission of sins by a spiritual regenera- 
tion coming to holy baptism. He prays that the can- 
didate may be born again, and become an heir of sal- 
vation through our Lord Jesus Christ. After the 
prayer the minister says to the candidate : " Well be- 
loved, who are come hither, desiring to receive holy 
baptism, ye have heard how the congregation hath 
prayed that our Lord Jesus Christ would vouchsafe to 
receive you, and bless you, to release you of your sins, 
to give you the kingdom of heaven, and everlasting 
life." 

Everybody knows the importance attached to bap- 
tism by the Protestant Episcopal Church. The priest, 
at the baptism of an infant, says: "Give thy Holy 
Spirit to this infant, that he may be born again, and be 
made an heir of eternal salvation ; through our Lord 
Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and 
the Holy Spirit, now and forever. Amen." He 
prays that the water of baptism may be sanctified ' ' to 
the mystical washing away of sin." The regeneration 
of the child is prayed for in the baptism. I feel like 
exclaiming with Tertullian: "What need their guilt- 
less age make such haste to the forgiveness of sins "? 
And Tertullian, by the way, is the first to mention the 
baptism of infants in the history of the church. He 
belongs to the early part of the third century. Origen 
said that "if there were nothing in infants that 
wanted forgiveness and mercy, the grace of baptism 
would be needless to them." 



36 PECULIARITIES OF THE DISCIPLES. 

The Augsburg Confession of Faith, the Lutheran 
symbol, says that "all men begotten after the com- 
mon course of nature are born with sin ; that is, with* 
out the fear of God, without trust in him, and with 
fleshly appetite; and that this disease, or original 
fault, is truly sin, condemning and bringing eternal 
death now also upon all that are not born again by 
baptism and the Holy Spirit. 

What do you think of that? Could a declaration 
more extreme be framed? 

Art. IX., "Of baptism " reads as follows : 

Of baptism they teach that it is necessary to salvation, and that by 
baptism the grace of God is offered, and that children are to be baptized, 
who, by baptism being offered to God, are received into God's favor. 

They condemn the Anabaptists, who allow not the baptism of chil- 
dren, and affirm that children are saved withont baptism. 

This is Art. IX. of the Augsburg Confession of 
Faith. It was prepared by Melanchthon in 1530. 
Martin Luther said, after reading it: "I have read 
the Confession ; it pleases me very well, and I know of 
nothing by which I could better it or change it, nor 
would it be becoming, for I can not move so softly 
and gently. ,, 

Even Baptists, who aim to avoid the mistake of 
making baptism a saving ordinance, sometimes use 
language which may well be characterized as extrava- 
gant. One of them, for instance, can be quoted as 
saying that "baptism is the dividing line between us 
and our sins." This language is quoted from the Rev. 
Mr. Williams, Baptist, by Rev. Jas. A, Kirtley, Bap- 
tist, in his book, entitled "The Design of Baptism." 
This quotation is made in the "Appendix." He 



PECULIAR USE OF BAPTISM. 37 

explains in the first paragraph of the "Appendix" 
that "the quotations from various distinguished authors 
confirm the views expressed in the body of the work." 
Then it is legitimate, is it not, to claim that Mr. Kirt- 
ley holds that "baptism is the dividing line between 
us and our sins " ? 

To all of this Disciples say: "Brethren, you make 
too much of baptism. You baptize persons for which 
you have no warrant in Scripture. Only believers are 
proper subjects of this ordinance, according to God's 
most holy word ; but you baptize unbelievers, and this 
ceremony you connect with their salvation. Brethren, 
these things ought not so to be." This is the attitude 
of the Disciples to*ward their brethren who teach in 
this way. There is no unkind feeling ; but there is a 
marked difference. The Disciples can not consent to 
make so much of this sacred rite. 

The Examiner and Chronicle of this city is a true 
blue Baptist paper. No new theology in it. The 
following language is from its columns : 

He who refuses or neglects it [immersion] refuses to acknowledge 
himself formally as Christ's ; and whatever be his cliaract r, can make 
no claim to be recognized as a Christian, much less to any of the privi- 
leges of that regular organization whose primary and fundamental con- 
dition he has disregarded. 

But something can be said in behalf of the good 
people who thus exalt an ordinance of the gospel. 
Some passages of New Testament Scripture seem to 
favor this extreme position. I will quote some of 
them : 

Mark i. 4: "John did baptize in the wilderness, and 
preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of 
sins." 



38 PECULIARITIES OF THE DISCIPLES. 

Luke vii. 30 : "The Pharisees and lawyers rejected 
the counsel of God against themselves, being not bap- 
tized with the baptism of John." 

Mark xvi. 16: " He that believeth and is baptized 
shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be 
damned." 

John iii. 5 : " Except a man be born of w r ater and 
of the Spirit, he can not enter into the kingdom of 
God." 

Acts ii. 38: "Repent, and be baptized every one 
of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission 
of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy 
Spirit." 

Acts xxii. 16 : "And now why tarriest thou ? Arise, 
and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on 
the name of the Lord." 

I. Pet. iii. 21 : " Baptism doth also now save us." 

Some of these passages seem to favor the extreme 
views as to the value of baptism placed before you in 
the language recited from the Confession of Faith, the 
Discipline of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the 
Book of Common Prayer of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church, the Augsburg Confession of Faith, and the 
words of such men as Calvin, Wesley, Knox, Melanch- 
thon, and Luther. But a fair interpretation of the 
words of Holy Scripture, it will be found, will not 
warrant these extreme positions. It is as certain as 
anything can be that not one of these passages speaks 
of baptism in connection with unbelievers. Baptism 
is always and everywhere in the word of the Lord 
mentioned in connection with faith, and as an ex- 
pression of faith produced by hearing the word of 
God. 



PECULIAR USE OF BAPTISM. 39 

President Finney, in li Revival Lectures, "gives a hint 
as to the place, the purpose, and value of Christian 
baptism. He is speaking on " Measures to Promote 
Revivals." He is advocating the anxious seat. Some 
were opposed to its use. It was in Finney's time an in- 
novation. In his defense of the anxious seat as a 
measure to be employed in the promotion of revivals 
of religion, he says : 

The church has always felt it necessary to have something of the 
kind to answer this very purpose. In the days of the apostles baptism 
answered this purpose. The gospel was preached to the people, and 
then all those who were willing to be on the side of Christ were called 
on to be baptized. It held the precise place that the anxious seat doe s 
now, as a public manifestation of their determination to be Chris- 
tians. 

This is good. Mr. Finney is in the neighborhood 
of the right place and true use of Christian baptism. 
There can be no doubt of his statement as to the 
apostolic manner of proceeding: "The gospel was 
preached to the people, and then all those who were 
willing to be on the side of Christ were called on to 
be baptized. " This is exactly what was done. 

President Finney, in this connection, also says : 

Preach to the sinner, and at the moment he thinks he is willing to 
do anything ; he thinks that he is determined to serve the Lord ; but 
bring him to the test, call on him to do one thing, to take one step that 
shall identify him with the people of God, or cross his pride — his pride 
comes up, and he refuses; his delusion is brought out, and he finds 
himself a lost sinner still; whereas, if you had not done it, he might 
have gone away flattering himself that he was a Christian. If you say 
to him, " There is the anxious seat ; come out and avow your determina- 
tion to be on the Lord's side," and if he is not willing to do so small 
a thing as that, then he is not willing to do anything, and there he is, 
brought out before his own conscience. It uncovers the delusion of the 
human heart, and prevents a great many spurious conversions by showing 



40 PECULIARITIES OF THE DISCIPLES. 

those who might otherwise imagine themselves willing to do anything 
for Christ, that in fact they are willing to do nothing. 

All of this is good; but if the Lord appointed 
baptism for this very purpose, as President Finney 
truly says, why not be satisfied with the Lord's ap- 
pointment ? Are we wiser than our Lord ? Where is 
the divine authority for putting the anxious seat where 
the Lord placed baptism ? Read the passage last 
quoted again, and insert baptism where Mr. Finney 
would use the words anxious seat. 

Look into the New Testament, and see if it is not 
true, as President Finney says, that the apostles called 
on those who were willing to be on the Lord's side to 
be baptized. 

When the three thousand in Jerusalem were willing 
to be on the Lord's side, they were commanded to repent 
and be baptized for the remission of sins. When Saul of 
Tarsus was willing to come out on the Lord's side, he 
was told to arise and be baptized and wash away his 
sins, calling on the name of the Lord. When Corne- 
lius, the Roman centurion, and his friends were will- 
ing to be on the Lord's side, he was commanded, in 
the name of the Lord, to be baptized. When the 
treasurer of Queen Candace was, under the preaching 
of Philip, made to be on the Lord's side, he was bap- 
tized in a certain water, and went on his way rejoicing. 
When the men and women in Samaria, who heard 
Philip preach the things concerning the kingdom of 
God and the name of Jesus Christ, were willing to be 
baptized, the sacred historian says that they were bap- 
tized. The same is true of the much people in Corinth 
who heard Paul preach. The statement in the New 
Testament reads thus: "And many of the Corinthians, 



PECULIAR USE OF BAPTISM. 41 

hearing, believed and were baptized." Yes, President 
Finney is correct : " The gospel was preached to the 
people, and then all those who were willing to be on 
the side of Christ were called on to be baptized." 

This is the practice of the Disciples. In our meet- 
ings the divine plan is followed. The test appointed 
by the Lord Jesus, and none other, is used. Is not 
this peculiar ? The Disciples do not, can not, baptize 
infants. These can not decide to be on the side of 
Christ. When any one is far enough advanced in life 
to understand the call of the Christ, and the obliga- 
tions of the Christian life, he is urged to come out 
upon the side of Christ, and begin to live the Christian 
life. This willingness and determination is expressed 
in baptism, tor in this way the Lord Jesus would have 
him express it. This is peculiar. Do you know of 
any others who thus use baptism ? And do you not 
see that this is as far as possible from baptismal regen- 
eration ? There must be an inward change, there must 
be faith and penitence, before any person can receive 
baptism in any proper sense. The person submitting 
to the institution of Christian baptism says in this act 
of submission : U I do believe in Christ, I do trust in 
the Son of God, I take him to be my Saviour, I sin- 
cerely repent; I am determined, by God's help, to 
cease to do evil and begin to do well. I enter into 
covenant with God through Jesus to be a Christian 
from this time onward." 

When the soul comes to this point, submits to the 
divine test without flinching, he can read the evidence 
of his acceptance with God in the handwriting of the 
Most High. He can claim as his own the promise of 
remission of sins. 



42 PECULIARITIES OF THE DISCIPLES. 

Do not, I pray you, as did the Pharisees and lawyers 
spoken of in the seventh chapter of Luke, reject the 
counsel of God by refusing to submit to the ordi- 
nance of Heaven's own appointment. 



PECULIAR INSTRUCTION TO INQUIRERS. 

Sirs, what must I do to be saved ? — Acts xvi. 30. 

While the Disciples are, in general, in accord with 
evangelical Christians in their understanding of the 
great fundamental facts and truths and principles of 
the gospel, it is still difficult for them to work har- 
moniously with their brethren in revival meetings, as 
such meetings are usually conducted. 

Very naturally you ask, Why is this? And It 
may be that you have been inclined to accuse the Dis- 
ciples of narrowness and bigotry. But this charge 
can not be sustained when the facts are known. The 
Disciples are not narrow, nor bigoted. They do not 
decline to take an active part in such meetings because 
of a feeling of superiority. They are not Pharisees. 
Sometimes revival meetings are so conducted that they 
can, consistently with their principles, participate, 
At such times they assist with pleasure. But what are 
some of the reasons why they can not always take an 
active part in such meetings ? 

In their plea for Christian union they have agreed 
to take the Bible as their guide. The New Testament 
contains the only authorized account of the religion of 
Jesus in the world. It tells men what to believe, and 
what to do in order to become Christians and to live 
the Christian life. This book ought to be read as if 
the reader were in utter ignorance of the Christian 
religion. From it all needed information concerning 
the religious system of which Jesus is the author can 



44 PECULIARITIES OF THE DISCIPLES. 

be learned, and from it alone. The four gospels tell 
men who Jesus is. They teach that Jesus, the founder 
of our religion, was in his nature divine and human — 
that he was at once God and man. The reasons for 
faith in Jesus are contained in the gospels. These 
things were written that man might believe that Jesus 
is the Son of God. The Acts of the Apostles contains 
instruction to inquirers. It tells men what to do to 
be saved. In other words, the fifth book of the New 
Testament is the revival book of the Bible. It is the 
only one of the sixty-six books of the Bible whose 
chief purpose is to tell sinners explicitly and fully what 
to do to secure remission of sins. If any person de- 
sires to know what to do to become a Christian, let him 
consult the Book of the Acts of the Apostles. This is 
the book for the evangelist. It contains instructions 
to him as to the manner of proceeding in persuading 
men to become Christians. The evangelist who takes 
the inspired preachers, whose sermons in brief are 
reported, and their manner of proceeding in great 
revival meetings, described in the Acts of the Apostles 
— the evangelist who takes these men as his examples 
can not go far astray. The Christian manual of re- 
vivals is this part of the New Testament. 

The Epistles are addressed to the churches of 
Christ in different cities and countries, and to individ- 
ual Christians. Incidentally and in general terms they 
tell how persons become Christians, but this is not their 
prime purpose. They were written to churches and Chris- 
tians to show the application of Christian principles in 
daily living. After one becomes a Christian he is often 
puzzled to know what to do as a child of God. He 
does not know how to apply the principles of the gospel 



PECULIAR INSTRUCTION TO INQUIRERS. 45 

to the ever-changing condition of affairs in daily life. 
This he can learn from the Epistles. They were writ- 
ten for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruc- 
tion in righteousness, that the man of God may be 
perfect, and thoroughly furnished unto all good works. 
The Epistles instruct husbands and wives, parents and 
children, masters and servants, citizens and rulers in 
their respective duties. Here is line upon line, and 
precept upon precept, of human duty, and how to do 
it. This is, in a general way, a statement as to the 
contents and purposes of the New Testament Epistles. 
The Book of Revelation stands apart from the other 
books of the New Testament in its character and pur- 
pose. The Gospels answer the question, Who is 
Jesus ? The Acts of the Apostles answers the ques- 
tion, What must I do to obtain the forgiveness of 
sins? The Epistles answer the question, What are 
my duties and privileges as a Christian ? The Book of 
Revelation answers the question, What will be the out- 
come of the present conflict between truth and error ? 
between good and evil ? between God and Satan ? All 
over this book you can read Victory. But this plain 
and common sense view of the Bible is disregarded in 
the average revival. But little attention is given to 
the teaching of the Word. The authority of the 
Scriptures is but little regarded. The sacred writings 
are often, in such places, set at naught — accounted as 
nothing. Special revelations from God are sought and 
expected. The rule of salvation is ignored. Jesus is 
treated as if he had never told men in plain terms 
what to do to be saved. In their prayers men seek to 
bring Christ down from above, or they seem to descend 
into the deep to bring, as it were, Christ from the 



.46 PECULIARITIES OF THE DISCIPLES. 

dead. Appeals are made to God to pour out his 
Spirit, as if Jesus had not said that after the coming of 
the Spirit he would remain with his people forever. 
God is asked to baptize men with fire, in apparent igno- 
rance of the fact that this baptism is for such persons 
as are represented by the chaff and the tree that 
bringeth not forth good fruit. Such are cast into the 
fire to be burned, and this is the baptism of fire. Sin- 
ners are taught that salvation is obtained, sometimes 
in one way, and sometimes in another, as if the Christ 
fiad never spoken upon the subject, or as if, having 
spoken, his words are not worthy of regard. 

You can see how much out of place an intelligent 
and sincere Disciple would be in such a place as an 
average revival meeting. At so many points there 
would be collisions, that an attempt at co-operation in 
such services would be not only vain, but unpleasant. 
Jesus is not confessed by holding up the hand, or bow- 
ing the head, or kneeling at the altar, or standing up. 
But this in effect is the teaching of the average profes- 
sional revivalist. Upon the confession of Jesus, the 
Scriptures are explicit. "With the mouth confession 
is made unto salvation. " This is the word of the Lord. 
By it let us abide. To follow the instructions of apos- 
tles, in dealing with inquirers, now seems strange. One 
is so odd in dealing with inquirers as they were dealt 
with by the apostles of Christ as to seem almost sensa- 
tional. There ought, however, to be no confusion at 
this point. Look into the Revival Manual of the New 
Testament. Three thousand converts in a single meet- 
ing in Jerusalem. How were they dealt with ? In a 
short time five thousand more were brought to Christ 
in the same city. How ? A great company of the 



PECULIAR INSTRUCTION TO INQUIRERS. 47 

priests even became obedient to the faith. Samaria 
received the word of the Lord. The people heard 
Philip the evangelist speak concerning the kingdom of 
God, and the name of Jesus Christ, when they were bap- 
tized, both men and women. Simon the Sorcerer be- 
came a Christian. How? The treasurer of Queen Candace 
turned to the Lord. How was he induced to take this 
step? What precise things did he do ? Saul was con- 
verted in his mad career, and became not only a 
Christian, but an ardent advocate of the gospel. Saul 
was not miraculously converted. The appearance to 
him of Jesus as he went on his way from Jerusalem 
to Damascus convinced him that the Man of Nazareth 
was alive from the dead, and that consequently he was 
the Messiah whom the Jews had long expected. This 
once settled, all else followed easily. Under the in- 
struction of the devout Ananias, Saul received bap- 
tism, and became known as a disciple of Jesus, whom 
he had persecuted. Captain Cornelius, of the Roman 
Army, is the next distinguished convert to Christ 
mentioned in the inspired history. The gospel is next 
introduced into Europe. When Jesus was leaving the 
earth, and giving his disciples instructions for the con- 
quest of the world, he said : "First in Jerusalem, then 
in Judea, then in Samaria, and then to the uttermost 
parts of the earth. " When the Gospel comes across 
from Asia into Europe, it is reaching out to the ends 
of the earth. The first convert in Europe was a 
woman. Her name was Lydia. She was a trades- 
woman. Her home was at Thyatira, and she is called 
in the sacred narrative a seller of purple. The next 
convert to Christianity in Europe was a man. He was 
a prison-keeper. His home was in Philippi. In con- 



48 PECULIARITIES OF THE DISCIPLES. 

nection with his conversion there was an earthquake ; 
but he was not converted by the earthquake. It ar- 
rested his attention, and caused him to think that possi- 
bly a certain damsel spoke the truth when she said 
concerning Paul and Silas: "These are servants of 
the Most High God, who show unto us the way of sal- 
vation." The story of these first European converts 
is found in the sixteenth chapter of the Acts. They 
became Christians, as all others whose turning to the 
Lord is set forth on the pages of the New Testament, 
by hearing the gospel, by believing on the Lord Jesus 
Christ, accompanied by an open and formal submission 
to him in baptism. "Much people" in Corinth be- 
came Christians under the preaching of Paul. So large 
a number turned to the Lord Jesus in Ephesus that it 
is said there was danger of all Asia turning away 
from the great goddess Diana. A mob was gathered* 
and the life of the preacher was in imminent peril. 
These are cases of conversion described in the Acts of 
the Apostles. For what ? Obviously to teach the men of 
God, and in fact all Christians in all ages, how men are 
to turn to the Shepherd and Bishop of Souls. It is 
peculiar to the Disciples to regard this book in this 
light, to study it from this standpoint, to instruct in- 
quirers by the use of its language. This is a marked 
peculiarity. When Disciples would tell sinners how to 
obtain pardon, when they would explain the way of 
salvation in the sense of remission, they invariably go 
to this part of the New Testament. Others go to the 
Hebrew Hymn-Book, commonly called the Psalms of 
David, or to a Hebrew prophet, or to the Book of Job, 
or to the sad wail of some pessimist, as was the author 
of the Book of Ecclesiastes. If an inquirer wants to 



PECULIAR INSTRUCTION TO INQUIRERS. 49 

know what to believe and what to do to become a Jew, 
the Old Testament is a good place to go, no place bet- 
ter ; but if the inquirer wants to know what to believe 
and what to do to become a Christian, the New Testa- 
ment is the one book to consult. 

Much of what I have said is, as a theory, admitted 
to be true. The difficulty is in the application. Dis- 
ciples hold these things practically. What I have said 
is not a mere theory with the Disciples. They propose 
to practice in harmony with them. It is the custom of 
the Disciples to adapt their instruction to inquirers in 
this way: (i) What position does the person to be 
taught occupy ? Is he an unbeliever ? Does he be- 
lieve that the Bible contains the Word of God ? and 
that Jesus is the Son of God? Has he repented of 
his sins? Is he a penitent believer? Has he been 
baptized on a confession of the Lord Jesus? In other 
words, is the inquirer a baptized, penitent believer? 
Is he back-slider ? Has he started in the Christian life 
and fallen by the way ? Every person belongs to one 
or the other of these classes. Each person who hears 
me to-night is either an unbeliever, or a believer, or a 
penitent believer, or a baptized penitent believer living 
a Godly life, or a back-slider. The manner of dealing 
with these classes by men under the especial guidance 
of the Holy Spirit was as follows: The unbeliever 
was told to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That he 
might believe on the Son of God, the Word of the 
Lord was spoken to him. " Faith cometh by hearing, 
and hearing by the Word of God." The believer was 
taught to repent of his sins. After Jesus had been 
exhibited by Simon Peter, in his great sermon in 
Jerusalem, in such a manner as to convince his hearers 



50 PECULIARITIES OF THE DISCIPLES. 

that God had made the man whom they had crucified 
both Lord and Christ, they were commanded to re- 
pent. As a result. of the words spoken, the people 
exclaimed:' 'Men! Brethren!! What shall we do? 
The preacher said: ''Repent and be baptized every 
one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remis- 
sion of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy 
Spirit." Imagine, if you can, the consternation which 
these words would produce in a modern revival meet- 
ing when men and women are at the altar of prayer or 
in an inquiry room. Disciples are compelled to choose 
between ignoring the plain answers to inquirers in the 
New Testament, or remain out of an active participa- 
tion in revival meetings. It is easy to choose. The 
inspired apostles of the Lord Jesus commanded peni- 
tent believers to be baptized in the name of the Son of 
God for the remission of sins. See the second chapter 
of the Acts, verse thirty-eight. Such as have, after 
hearing the gospel, believed, repented, and declared 
their faith and penitence by being baptized in the name 
of the Lord Jesus — such persons were taught by the 
holy men of old, who were moved by the Holy Spirit, 
to add to their faith virtue or courage ; and to courage, 
knowledge ; and to knowledge, temperance ; and to tem- 
perance, patience ; and to patience, godliness ; and to 
godliness, brotherly kindnees ; and to brotherly kind- 
ness, charity. This is the way to eternal salvation. 
"For if these things be in you, and abound, they 
make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful 
in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he 
that lacketh these things is blind, and can not see afar 
off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old 
sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence 



PECULIAR INSTRUCTION TO INQUIRERS. 5 I 

to make your calling and election sure: for if you do 
these things, ye shall never fall : for so an entrance 
shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the 
everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
Christ." 

This, remember, is the language of Simon Peter, 
a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, who 
gave instruction to inquirers in the great Pentecost 
meeting in the city Jerusalem, saying to as many as 
were convinced that God had made Jesus both Lord 
and Christ, Repent and be baptized every one of you, 
in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins/' 
To him our Lord gave the keys of the kingdom of 
heaven. He received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. 
By the Spirit of the Lord he was led into all truth. 
He made no mistake in telling men the way to remis- 
sion, and afterward the way of entrance into the ever- 
lasting kingdom. When this man said, "Add to your 
faith virtue ;• and to virtue, knowledge ; and to knowl- 
edge, patience," etc., etc., he was exhorting those who 
had obtained remission by faith, repentance, and bap- 
tism. He calls them "beloved." He speaks of their 
"pure minds." Their faith he characterizes as "pre- 
cious." To them were given, says Simon Peter, "ex- 
ceeding great and precious promises." These persons 
had been made "partakers of the divine nature." 
"Brethren," he says, "give diligence to make your 
calling and election sure." In dealing with inquirers 
it can not be wrong to apply to baptized penitent be- 
lievers words spoken or written to such persons by the 
ambassadors of the Christ. But there were back- 
sliders in those days, even as there are back-sliders 
in our time. Some did run well for a season, 



52 PECULIARITIES OF THE DISCIPLES. 

but became weary in well-doing, and so fell away. 
What ought to be said to such? How can they be 
restored to the fellowship of God ? Fortunately there 
is a case of this kind treated by this same Simon 
Peter. I refer to Simon the Sorcerer, whose con- 
version and fall are described in the eighth chapter 
of the Acts of the Apostles. Philip the Evangelist 
converted Simon Magus. He turned Simon to the 
Lord by u preaching the things concerning the king- 
dom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ. ,, Simon 
believed and was baptized, as were the other converts 
in Samaria. It is not said that Simon feigned faith — 
it is said that he believed. And as if for the express 
purpose of placing the genuineness of his faith beyond 
all doubt, it is said in the inspired record that " Simon 
himself believed also." His belief was just like the 
belief of others in Samaria. This faith showed itself in 
the right way, too. It expressed itself in baptism. 
But after a time this man, so truly turned to the Lord, 
fell into sin. Peter and John went from Jerusalem to 
Samaria to look into this extraordinary work of Evan- 
gelist Philip, and to confer on the converts the miracu- 
lous gift of the Holy Spirit. Now "when Simon saw 
that through laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy 
Spirit was given, he offered them money, saying : Give 
me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, 
he may receive the Holy Ghost. " This proposition 
was wrong. It ought not to have been made. In 
this Simon sinned. Peter told him as much. He said : 
"Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast 
thought that the gift of God may be purchased with 
money. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter : 
for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent, 



PECULIAR INSTRUCTION TO INQUIRERS. 53 

therefore, of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if 
perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven 
thee. For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bit- 
terness, and in the bond of iniquity." The words of 
the faithful preacher we may well believe were not in 
vain; for " then answered Simon and said, Pray ye to 
the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye 
have spoken come upon me," 

This was the apostolic method of dealing with a 
back-slider — with a Christian who had fallen away. 
What is such an one told to do in order to obtain for- 
giveness? " Repent and pray." "Repent, there- 
fore, of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps 
the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee." 

What, then, is the peculiar instruction given by the 
Disciples to inquirers ? 

They first of all ascertain, as far as possible, the 
precise position occupied by the person to be in- 
structed, (r) Is he an infidel? (2) Is he a believer? 
(3) Is he a penitent? (4) Is he a baptized penitent 
believer living a godly life ? (5) Is he a back-slider ? 

Having learned the person's position, the instruc- 
tion is as follows : The unbeliever is told to believe on 
the Lord Jesus Christ, and that he may do so, the word 
of the Lord is spoken to him, for faith comes, not as a 
direct gift from God, but by hearing the Word of God. 

The believer — that is, the person who believes that 
God has made the crucified Jesus both Lord and Christ 
— such an one is exhorted to repent. 

The penitent — that is, the one who is so sorry for 
personal sin as to earnestly desire and sincerely deter- 
mine to live a holy, righteous, and godly life — this 
kind of person is taught as devout Ananias taught 



54 PECULIARITIES OF THE DISCIPLES. 

in Damascus penitent Saul of Tarsus, to arise, without 
delay, and be baptized, and thus wash away sin, calling* 
on the name of the Lord. 

The baptized penitent is taught that, in order to an 
abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom he 
must cultivate the Christian graces, as faith, virtue, 
knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kind- 
dess, and charity. He is taught to grow in grace, and 
in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
Christ. 

The back-slider — the one who started in the Chris- 
tian way and ran well for a time — is told to repent and 
pray for the forgiveness of sins. This is, in brief, the 
peculiar instruction given by Disciples to inquirers. 

This seems to be the kind of instruction contained 
in the New Testament. But when you hear a preacher 
or any other person teaching in this way, you may be 
certain that you are listening to a Disciple. No others 
instruct inquirers in this manner. 

This is sometimes called in the New Testament 
"the way of salvation/' The way of salvation from 
past sins and the perfect freedom and joy of heaven is 
by faith in the Son of God and obedience to him. 
Any person going along this way can say without 
egotism or self-righteousness : u I am in the way of sal- 
vation." The Guide Book indicates these steps, this 
experience, this life, as the way of gracious forgive- 
ness, and the way of eternal glory. Thus endcth this 
lesson. 



THE LORD'S SUPPER. 

This do in remembrance of me. — I. Cor. xi. 24. 

We are now to consider the peculiar use which the 
Disciples make of the Lord's Supper. What is their 
attitude toward this institution ? 

It seems quite appropriate that to-day we should 
spend some time in meditation on this subject. We 
are reminded by this ordinance in the Lord's house, of 
the suffering and death on the cross of our blessed Sa- 
viour. 

It was my privilege this morning to attend and par- 
ticipate in a service at once unique and solemn. Seven 
brethren spoke in succession on the seven sayings ot 
our divine Lord as he expired upon the accursed tree, 
making thereby a complete atonement for the sins of 
mankind. The first brother spoke from the words of 
Jesus : " Father, forgive them ; for they know not what 
they do. " The second, from the words of the Master to 
the pleading penitent by his side: " To-day shalt 
thou be with me in paradise." The third addressed us 
from the words of the Son of man to the disciple whom 
he loved, and to his mother : " Woman, behold thy son 
behold thy mother. " The fourth speaker 
dwelt on the exclamation: "My God, my God, why 
hast thou forsaken me ? " The fifth directed our medi- 
tation to the experience of the Christ, when he ex- 
claimed : "I thirst.' ' The sixth brother spoke from 
the words of the Sufferer: "It is finished." The last 

address was on the final words uttered by the Christ 

55 



$6 PECULIARITIES OF THE DISCIPLES. 

as he expired : " Father, into thy hands I commend 
my spirit.' ' Previous to the addresses, appropriate 
prayers and thanksgivings were presented. Inter- 
spersed with the brief discourses were appropriate 
hymns. Altogether, the service was novel, and spir- 
itually profitable. 

You can see, after such a blessed experience this 
morning, that I am, at this evening hour, quite in sym- 
pathy with the theme, in the study of which we are 
now to engage. 

Various names have, at different times in the Church 
of Christ, been applied to the institution which, in the 
midst of the assemblies of the saints, places vividly be- 
fore the mind the death of our Lord Jesus. 

It has been spoken of as the sacrament — the sacra- 
ment of the Lord's Supper. The word sacrament, 
as you know, belongs to the Latin family of words, 
and signifies a solemn oath. In the beginning it de- 
scribed the military oath taken by Roman soldiers. 
Among Catholics there are seven so-called sacraments, 
namely : baptism, confirmation, eucharist, penance, 
orders, matrimony, and extreme unction. Among 
Protestants there are two sacraments, namely : bap- 
tism and the Lord's Supper. Disciples, however, do 
not speak of baptism and the Lord's Supper as sacra- 
ments. Sacrament is not a word belonging to their lit- 
erature, for the very good reason that it is not found 
in their religious text-book, the New Testament. You 
will bear in mind that one of their fundamental princi- 
ples is the entertaining only of Bible thoughts, and their 
expression in Bible language. An appropriateness, 
however, can easily be seen in the use of the word sac- 
rament in connection with the Lord's Supper. One 



THE LORDS SUPPER. 57 

does seem, in coming to this solemn service, and par- 
taking of the bread and wine, in memory of Jesus, to 
come afresh under a solemn obligation to live for him; 
but since this feast of love is nowhere in the text-book 
spoken of as a sacrament, we decline to use the word 
in this connection. 

The word eucharist, which signifies thanksgiving, 
has also, by Christian people, been applied freely to 
this memorial feast. The word eucharist is of Greek 
derivation, and signifies a giving of thanks. If there 
is a place above all others where devout thanks to 
Almighty God ought to be sincerely rendered, it is the 
table of the Lord. For is not each communicant re- 
minded of the work of Christ in his behalf ? Is he not 
called upon by the great facts exhibited in the service, 
to remember that once he was dead in trespasses 
and in sins, but that now he is alive through Jesus 
Christ our Lord ? That once he was lost, but now is 
found ? That once he was blind, but now he sees ? 
That once he was poor, but now is rich ? That once 
he was an orphan, wandering in a dark world, but now 
he is a child of God, an heir of heaven ? That once 
he was under condemnation, but now is, through the 
grace of the King, freely pardoned ? That once he was 
without hope, an alien and stranger, but now he has 
a well-grounded hope of an inheritance, incorruptible, 
undefiled and unfading ? Such contrasts as these of the 
past and present, in the experiences of the communi- 
cant, are easy, appropriate, natural, and must, of ne- 
cessity, occasion feelings of gratitude, and lead to ex- 
pressions of thankfulness. Because of these things 
there seems to be an appropriateness in characteriz- 
ing the Lord's Supper as the eucharistia — the giving 



58 PECULIARITIES OF THE DISCIPLES. 

of thanks. But I do not call to mind this word 
as applied to the Lord's Supper in the New Testa- 
ment. 

The word communion is used by the Holy Spirit in 
the sacred writings, in connection with the service which 
reminds us of the price of our redemption. The 
Apostle Paul, in the first Epistle to the Corinthians, 
asks the members of the Church of God in the city of 
Corinth: "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it 
not the communion of the blood of Christ ? The bread 
which we break, is it not the communion of the body 
of Christ ?" The word translated communion (koino- 
nia) y indicates partnership, fellowship. Those who 
partake of the supper of the Lord are in partnership 
with the Lord of the feast. The Son of God, the King 
of Glory, presides at this banquet. Those who par- 
take of the bread and wine are his fellows, his part- 
ners, his brethren. One of the most wonderful things, 
to my mind, in the New Testament, is the saying in 
the Epistle to the Hebrews : " He is not ashamed to 
call them brethren. " In a volume entitled "What 
Baptists Believe," by my old friend, J. L. Burrows, 
D. D., now of Norfolk, Va., I find a discourse on the 
Lord's Supper, and from the text read at the beginning 
of this sermon. The first sentence in Dr. Burrow's 
sermon is as follows : ' ' The main design of this dis- 
course is to show that in the Lord's supper we hold 
communion with Christ, not with Christians ; and that 
the supper was not instituted to express affection or 
fellowship of the disciples of Jesus for one another. " 
I quote this to endorse it. The communion in the 
Lord's Supper is primarily with the Christ. Jesus asks 
his people to eat the bread and to drink the wine in 



the lord's supper. 59 

memory of him. We may, therefore, speak of the eat- 
ing of the Lord's Supper as the communion. 

But the common and most appropriate characteri- 
zation of this ordinance is that of the Lord's Supper. 
On the night of our Saviour's betrayal, he took bread, 
and blessed, and brake, and said, This is my body. He 
also took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, This is my 
blood, shed for many, for the remission of sins. Thus was 
instituted the Lord's Supper. It is so called because it 
originated with Jesus. It is observed in obedience to 
him. It is eaten with reference to him. It turns the 
mind back to his expiatory death for the sins of man- 
kind, and forward to his triumphant second coming. 
In the eating of the bread and wine in the Lord's 
house, upon the Lord's day, the death of the Lord is 
set forth, and is to be exhibited week by week, until 
he shall come the second time without sin unto salva- 
tion. Let us speak, therefore, of this memorial ordi- 
nance not as a sacrament, nor as an eucharist, not 
alone as the communion, but chiefly, and as most ap- 
propriate, as the Lord's Supper. 

In turning multitudes to the Lord, in building* 
churches on the one divine foundation, the Disciples of 
Christ, during the last sixty years, have been wonder- 
fully successful. The divine blessing has attended 
their efforts. If I were asked to express, in a single 
sentence, the secret of this, I would say, it is found in 
a faithful adherence to the word of God in thought and 
in expression. There is power in this among the peo- 
ple, and while the Disciples in the pulpit are faithful to 
God's word, God's blessing will attend them in their 
effort; and just in the proportion in which the word 
of the Lord is ignored, just in that proportion will the 



60 PECULIARITIES OF THE DISCIPLES. 

Lord turn away and leave them to their own folly and 
imbecility. Let us, as a condition of continued suc- 
cess, with fidelity, industry, devotion and zeal, seek 
divine thoughts, and be studiously careful to present 
them in the very words of the Holy Spirit. 

Turn now to the history of the institution of the 
Lord's Supper. There is no difficulty in learning the 
character of persons for whom it was intended. I read 
the following from the New Testament : "And as they 
were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it, and 
brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, 
eat ; this is my body. And he took the cup, and 
gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all 
of it; for this is my blood of the New Testament, 
which is shed for many for the remission of sins' ' 
(Matt. xxvi. 26-28). To whom did our Lord give the 
bread ? Answer : To the disciples. To whom did our 
Lord give the cup? Answer: "And he gave it to 
them." There are three kinds of disciples mentioned 
in the New Testament. First, disciples of Moses ; 
second, disciples of John the Baptist ; third, disciples 
of the Lord Jesus. To the latter our Lord gave the 
bread, saying, " This is my body," and the cup con- 
taining the fruit of the vine, saying, "This is my 
blood." The Lord's Supper is, then, for the disciples 
of Christ. 

But who are disciples of Christ ? A disciple is a 
learner. A disciple of Christ is a pupil of the Lord 
Jesus. Jesus is the great Teacher. In his gracious in- 
vitation in the close of the second chapter of Matthew, 
he says, "Learn of me. " He teaches byword and 
deed, by deed and word, by example and precept, by 
precept and example. He teaches also with authority. 



THE LORD'S SUPPER. 6 1 

A true disciple of Christ receives without questioning 
every utterance of his Teacher. The word of the Mas- 
ter, with every genuine disciple, puts an end to all 
controversy. Politically, I am a disciple of Alexander 
Hamilton ; but I reserve to myself the right to differ 
from my teacher when it seems to me that he was in 
error. Theologically, I am a disciple of Alexander 
Campbell ; but I reserve myself the privilege of saying 
that, at this point and the other, Mr. Campbell was in 
error. In religion, I am a disciple of Christ. Here I 
have no reserved rights. I am pledged to endorse 
Jesus in all that he thought, said, commanded, prom- 
ised, threatened, did ; when he was on earth, a man 
among men, and since he left the earth, by his Spirit, 
in his chosen embassadors. The Lord's Supper is for 
disciples of Christ, and disciples of Christ are those 
who receive Christ's instructions from first to last, with- 
out doubt, without question, without hesitation. 
There may be doubts as to what Christ said ; there may be 
hesitation as to the import of some of Christ's words ; 
but the true disciple will seek to know what Jesus said, 
to understand the import of his words; and coming to 
this knowledge, to this understanding, his way is clear, 
there is no longer hesitancy. 

The most elaborate statement on the subject of the 
Lord's Supper, in the New Testament, is that con- 
tained in the eleventh chapter of the first Epistle to the 
Corinthians. The Apostle Paul is its author. 

He speaks of himself in the second Epistle to the Cor- 
inthians as an embassador for Christ. He says that God 
besought men through him. He represented himself 
as praying men, in Christ's stead, to be reconciled to 
God. An embassador is a minister of the highest 



62 PECULIARITIES OF THE DISCIPLES. 

rank, sent on public business from one sovereign to an- 
other. Paul, therefore, in a peculiar sense, represented 
and spoke for the Lord Jesus Christ. When the Mas- 
ter, during his personal ministry, sent the seventy be- 
fore his face into every city and place whither he him- 
self would come, he said : ' ' He that heareth you heareth 
me ; and he that despiseth you despiseth me ; and he 
that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me" (Luke 
x. 16). On another occasion he said : " He that re- 
ceiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me re- 
ceiveth him that sent me " (Matt. x. 40). If this 
was true of those engaged in preliminary work, how 
much more is it true of those who, like Paul, were 
sent to the ends of the earth, preaching the whole, gos- 
pel and establishing the kingdom among men. To 
them the Master said: "I am with you alway, even 
unto the end of the world " (Matt, xxviii. 20). 

When, therefore, we read what the Apostle Paul 
says concerning the persons to whom he gave the 
Supper of the Lord, it is as if we were receiving a 
fuller revelation on this subject from our Lord himself. 

Now the apostle said : " I have received of the Lord 
that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord 
Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took 
bread," etc. (I. Corinthians xi. 23.) "I delivered unto 
you." Unto whom ? Look at the second verse of the 
same epistle. It reads: " Unto the church of God 
which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ 
Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place 
call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord." When, 
therefore, the apostle says: "I delivered unto you 
that which I received of the Lord Jesus," and then 
gave an account of the institution of the Lord's Supper 



THE LORD'S SUPPER. 63 

as it is found in the gospels, he means that he gave the 
bread and the wine, representing the body and blood 
of Jesus, to the members of the church of God in 
Corinth — to those who were sanctified — to the called 
saints — that is, to those who had purified their souls by 
obedience to the truth, and to all who in every place 
called upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. These 
are the ones to whom this ambassador of Jesus Christ 
gave the Lord's Supper. These persons are farther 
described in the fourth chapter. Concerning them the 
apostle says: "In Jesus Christ I have begotten you 
through the gospel." They were, therefore, men and 
women with a new life. This new life is described in 
the sixth chapter : " Know ye not that the unrighteous 
shall not inherit the kingdom of God ? Be not deceived : 
neither fornicators, nor idolators, nor adulterers, nor 
effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 
nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, 
nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. 
And such were some of you : but ye are washed, but ye 
are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the 
Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God " (I. Corinth- 
ians vi. 9-1 1). To these washed thieves, and drunk- 
ards, and idolators, the apostle says: "I gave the 
Lord's Supper." Persons w r ho received the bread and 
wine at his hands are described in the third chapter as 
belonging to our Lord. "And ye are Christ's ; and 
Christ is God's" (I. Corinthians iii. 23). If you desire 
a still farther description of the persons to whom this 
ambassador of our King gave the Lord's Supper, you 
will find it in the eighteenth chapter of the Acts of the 
Apostles. Here we have an account of the introduc- 
tion of the gospel into the city of Corinth. The apos- 



64 PECULIARITIES OF THE DISCIPLES. 

tie tells us in his first epistle to the Corinthians that 
when he entered the city he determined to know 
nothing among the people, "save Jesus Christ, and 
him crucified. " We are told that as a result of the 
presentation of the word, " Crispus, the chief ruler of 
the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house ; 
and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were 
baptized' ' (Acts xviii. 8). The teaching of Scripture 
is therefore clear on this point. 

How often was the Lord's Supper observed in those 
primitive days ? 

We learn from a passage in the second chapter of the 
Acts, that three thousand souls who had turned to the 
Lord in Jerusalem, under the preaching of Peter and 
the rest of the apostles, on the first Pentecost after the 
coronation of the Christ: "They continued steadfastly 
in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in break- 
ing of bread, and in prayers." This language suggests 
at least that as often as the disciples came together to 
receive instruction, to offer prayers, and to show forth 
their spiritual fellowship by giving as God had pros- 
pered them, so often they broke bread in commemora- 
tion of the death of Christ. 

Very early, the first day of the week became the 
meeting day of the disciples of Christ. The disciples 
were assembled together on the very day of our Lord's 
resurrection, "being the first day of the week, " and 
"Jesus came into their midst, and pronounced a bless- 
ing on them " (John xx. 19). The next first day of 
the week the disciples assembled again, and again Jesus 
came into their midst and said : " Peace be unto you " 
(John xx. 26). From the sixteenth chapter of the 
first Epistle to the Corinthians it is evident that the 



THE LORD'S SUrPER. 65 

church of God in Corinth came together upon every 
first day of the week, and that this also was the habit of 
the churches in Galatia. The apostle says that he had 
given order " to the churches in Galatia, and that 
now he instructed the members of the church in Corinth 
to "also lay by in store, upon the first day of the week, 
for the poor saints in Judea, that there may be no col- 
lection when he comes " (I. Corinthians xvi. I, 2). 
This shows that it was the custom of the churches 
referred to to meet upon the first day of the week for 
worship. Turning to the twentieth chapter of Acts, we 
are told that when the disciples in Troas came together 
to break bread, Paul preached unto them (Acts xx. 7). 
The object of their coming together on the first day of 
the week was to break bread. 

A peculiarity of the people known as the Disciples 
of Christ in the nineteenth century is their coming to- 
gether to break bread, or to eat the Lord's Supper. 
There are a few congregations of the Baptist brethren 
that celebrate the Lord's Supper on every first day of 
the week. Many Episcopal churches have what they 
call "the Holy Communion " on every Lord's day. 
The use which our brethren of the Protestant Episco- 
pal Church make of the Lord's Supper is very different, 
however, from the use made of this feast by Disciples 
and the congregations of Baptists of which I have 
spoken. If I am not mistaken, there is a sort of sac- 
ramental efficacy, an opus operating in their minds 
attached to the institution. No such conception is in 
the minds of Disciples. 

Theoretically, the reformers and many of the com- 
mentators agree with the teaching of the Disciples. 
For instance, Adam Clarke, commenting upon the state- 



66 PECULIARITIES OF THE DISCIPLES. 

merit that the disciples in Troas came together on the 
first day of the week to break bread, says : " Intimat- 
ing by this that they were accustomed to receive the 
holy sacrament on each Lord's day." Albert Barnes, 
on the same passage, says: "It is possible that the 
apostles and early Christians celebrated the Lord's 
Supper on every Lord's day." The Rev. Charles Buck, 
author of a " Theological Dictionary," says, in an arti- 
cle on this subject: ' ' It evidently appears, however, 
both from Scripture (I. Corinthians xi. 26) and from 
the nature of the ordinance, that it ought to be fre- 
quent. " The Rev. Thomas Scott, D. D., author of 
the "Comprehensive Commentary, " says: "Breaking 
of bread, or commemorating the death of Christ in the 
eucharist, was one chief end of their assembling ; this 
ordinance seems to have been constantly administered 
every Lord's day, and probably no professed Christians 
absented themselves from it after they had been ad- 
mitted into the church, unless they lay under some 
censure, or had some real hindrance." John Wesley, 
writing to his people in the United States, in 1784, 
said : " I also advise the elders to administer the Supper 
of the Lord on every Lord's day." John Calvin char- 
acteristically says : "And truly this custom which en- 
joins communicating once a year is a most evident 
contrivance of the devil, by whose instrumentality 
soever it may have been determined. Every week, at 
least, the table of the Lord should have been spread 
for Christian assemblies." Good old Matthew Henry, 
author of a "Commentary on the Bible," says: "In 
primitive times it was the custom of many churches to 
receive the Lord's Supper every Lord's day." Philip 
Doddridge said : " It is well known that the primitive 



THE LORD'S SUPPER. 67 

Christians administered the eucharist every Lord's day." 
Dr. J. M. Cramp, late President of Acadia College, in 
Nova Scotia, and author of a (< History of Baptists," 
says : " The death of the Saviour is specially commem- 
orated in the. Lord's Supper, which, it is well known, 
was observed by the primitive Church every Lord's 
day, by which arrangement there was instituted an 
ever-recurring remembrance of the death and resurrec- 
tion of the Lord by all Christian people." And, finally, 
on this point Alexander Carson is quoted as saying : 
" There is an admirable wisdom in the appointment of 
Jesus in the observance of the Lord's Supper every first 
day of the week. In this ordinance Jesus Christ is cer- 
tainly set forth before us, crucified for us. Here the 
gospel is presented to the eyes as well as to the ears. 
Would it be any loss to them if all the churches of Christ 
were to return to this primitive practice?" What these 
men say y the Disciples do ; this is a marked peculiarity. 

The Disciples are also peculiar in this — that they de- 
cline to participate in the war of words which has been 
waged for what is called " open " and "close commu- 
nion." They do not presume to sit in judgment on 
any. They declare, clearly, that the Lord gave his 
Supper to his disciples, and there is not an intimation 
anywhere in the New Testament thr t any who are not 
membersjof the Church of God, that any who are not 
sanctified in Christ Jesus, that any who are not called 
saints, that any who do not call upon the name of 
Jesus Christ, that any who had not believed and been 
baptized, partook of the bread and the wine in memory 
of the Lord Jesus. 

But here is a curious question — and interesting. In 
the days of the apostles there was no doubt as to the 



68 PECULIARITIES OF THE DISCIPLES. 

meaning of the Saviour when he commanded men to 
be baptized. To be baptized was to be immersed. 
Baptized believers were immersed believers. All mem- 
bers of the Church of God were baptized. The sancti- 
fied were baptized. The saints had been baptized, in 
obedience to Christ. The people in Corinth, to whom 
Paul says, "1 gave the Lord's Supper," had been 
baptized— that is, they had been immersed. All Chris- 
tians in the apostolic age were buried by baptism. But 
the great apostasy introduced confusion. There is yet 
much confusion among Christians in faith and in prac- 
tice. Some think that they have been baptized who 
have only had water sprinkled on them. That they 
believe in Jesus there can be no doubt, and that they 
are serving him to the best of their knowledge can not 
be questioned. There are multitudes of such persons. 
That they are mistaken as to the form of baptism is, 
from my point of view, simply certain. We can not 
say to such persons, You are embraced in the descrip- 
tion of characters in the New Testament partaking of 
the Lord's Supper — nor can we say to them, You shall 
not, with our consent, come to the feast. Here is a 
question not specifically answered in the New Testa- 
ment. What shall we do ? Where the Bible speaks, 
we agree to speak ; where the Bible is silent, we agree 
to be silent. We know that immersed believers living 
godly lives have a right, from the Lord Jesus, to come 
to the Lord's table. We know this. Such characters 
as I have described, who love the Lord and serve him, 
but are mistaken as to the meaning of the Master when 
he said, Be baptized, are left by the Disciples, in their 
administration of the Lord's Supper, to decide whether 
they will, or will not, break bread with us. 



THE LORD'S SUPPER. 69 

Thus I have placed before you "The Peculiar 
Creed of the Disciples," their " Peculiar Use of the 
Bible/ ' their "Peculiar Instruction to Inquirers, 1 ' their 
"Peculiar Use of Baptism/' and their "Peculiar Use 
of the Lord's Supper." 

And now, in the conclusion of these discourses, to 
which you have so patiently listened, I pray the bless- 
ing of Heaven to rest upon those who have attended 
to the things spoken. The blessing of Heaven rest 
upon you, every one. The grace of the Lord Jesus 
Christ be with you always. Amen. 



Peculiarities of the Disciples 



A SERIES OF FIVE SERMONS 



BY 

B. B. TYLER 



CINCINNATI 
STANDARD PUBLISHING COMPANY 

1890 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



iiiggiiiiiiiiii 

019 566 807 3 







I 

BflMr 



